United Utilities puts environmental commitment at forefront of financial results

Water company United Utilities has used its financial results to insist it takes its role in protecting the environment “very seriously”.

The Warrington-based firm, which provides water services around the North West, has released its final results for year ending March 31 in which its operating profit rose 9% to £480.2m.

The results have come just a day after United Utilities was heavily criticised for releasing millions of litres of raw sewage into Windermere in the Lake District. The situation was labelled a “scandal” by opposition politicians, while Downing Street said it was “completely unacceptable” and the Environment Agency had the power to launch a criminal prosecution if necessary.

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United Utilities said on Wednesday that the spill was caused by an unexpected fault on the third party telecoms cable network in the area, “which United Utilities was not notified about and which affected both the primary system and United Utilities’ backup”.

But the company’s full-year results prominently highlight the work it is doing to improve its environmental performance, saying it was bringing forward around £400m of investment in its systems to reduce spills at more than 150 storm overflows. The group added it was moving to “accelerate environmental schemes in communities such as Windermere, where we are fast-tracking investment to drive improvements earlier”.

Chief executive Louise Beardmore said: “We take our role in protecting the environment very seriously; our ambitious business plan would see us investing more than ever before to improve services across the five counties of the North West. This would deliver a genuine step-change in infrastructure for the benefit of customers and the environment, and support 30,000 jobs.”

In the results, United Utilies announced revenues of £1.95bn, an 8% increase on last year’s figure. It said it had been anked as the UK’s top water and sewerage company and had hit targets for fixing leaks for the 18th year.